Chapter 18:

Lieutenant Jack Murphy and Senior Patrol Officer Chris Hall had predictably freaked out when they had heard the harsh and deep metallic voice exclaim in anger while they had spoken with Maeve on her cell phone. When the line went dead shortly thereafter, both had stared at each other in shock. Chris Hall had made his decision then and there that he would not allow his squad team leader to remain in danger. Jack had thought the same thing. It didn't matter if Maeve gave her promises that she was okay. She obviously wasn't, and they weren't just going to stand around and do nothing.

It was time they stepped in. Hall had several friends in the department quietly working on who, exactly, in the department had helped out the Feds. He knew Maeve had suspected Blair. Frankly, he did as well, and Hall promised himself that if it was Blair or someone else, he would make them pay for putting his squad leader in danger. Right now, all he wanted to do was bring back Maeve to Tranquility and help her clear her name. Jack had promised that the entire SWAT unit would support her, and they would not allow this travesty to continue.

Hall knew that finding Maeve was going to be next to impossible. He still had to try. He couldn't leave her in danger. The team would crucify him if they learned that he had. He had far too much loyalty to the damn woman to let her scamper off into the sunset with a suspected homicidal alien. They were going to find her. Hall promised himself that.

Several hours after the cut short phone call, Maeve's SWAT team had gathered at Hall's home. The team stood in Hall's backyard, all of them glaring at Murphy and Hall in suspicion and worry.

The only message they had received was from Hall; a simple text which read, "Irish Temper FUBAR, meet at SIC main."

Only one person had ever been called Irish Temper in their squad. Their leader. Maeve didn't know of the nickname, or if she did, she never acknowledged it. The squad had quietly decided, during a team meeting (which Maeve had missed) months ago, that if she was ever in trouble, that was the nickname they were to use.

When they had gotten the text that morning, all had rushed out from wherever they had been, and had driven to Hall's home. They were all worried, but none of them would admit it.

So they had gathered here, in their SIC's backyard, waiting, wondering what the hell was going on.

Tiny was scowling, his muscled arms rippling as he cracked his knuckles. Bauer was chewing on his fingernails, looking like he was about to murder someone. The rest of Maeve's ten-man team stood nervously around the backyard "porch", the gravel crackling beneath their feet.

Some of them, like Lancaster and Rodriguez, were speaking quietly amongst themselves, while others were practically yelling at each other. The squad's two newest members, Ryan "Mac Truck" McKinney and Gavin "Tor" Torres, had their heads in their hands and looked miserable.

Jack and Hall looked at each other and sighed. This was going to be harder than they thought. They didn't even know where to look for Maeve. All they knew was that she was in Arizona.

Hall had called in a favor with an Air Force buddy and had found out that Maeve's cell phone's last GPS coordinates had been at the Grand Canyon. Hall and Jack had disagreed on what direction she was going in, but Jack pulled rank and told Hall that Maeve was most likely going east. Hall still thought she was going to Mexico but had deferred to his superior.

Hall cleared his throat and stepped forward. Maeve's team immediately quieted, staring at him. Now they'd get some answers.

Hall took a deep breath before he spoke. "Boys, Maeve's in some serious shit. I can't tell you all that's gone down, not yet anyway, but I can tell you that we need to find her and fast. Some asshole, most likely Blair, has also put out warrants for her. When you all go into work today, I'm sure you'll be given info on that and be told to look for her. She's a fugitive." Hall paused, his jaw set in anger, his eyes narrowed. "This is bullshit. Somehow, she's pissed off a ton of people from here to D.C. This is unacceptable. We need to find her, someway, somehow, and clear her name."

The backyard erupted in furious shouts. A large crack filled the air, as Tiny let loose his anger on the wooden fence surrounding the property, splitting a piece of it in half. Maeve was like his sister, and he'd protect that woman until the end of the world. Like most of the others, he felt like he had failed his leader.

Jack stepped forward, and with one stern look, had silenced the men gathered there. He took a moment, collecting his thoughts, before he spoke. "The last we knew, Maeve was in Arizona. Hall had a buddy of his check out the last GPS coordinates registered with the phone, and it was the Grand Canyon. That was several hours ago. By all the evidence, it looks like Maeve's heading east."

Jack paused, chewing his cheek as he contemplated saying what needed to be said. He and Hall shared a long cool glance. Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't taken a shower yet, and ash fell from his hair. His face was twisted in anger. He couldn't tell the team yet about giant alien robots, they'd never believe them. He'd already had a hell of a time convincing Hall.

He continued, "She's in danger from the Feds. I don't trust them, and neither should you. We have got to find her, and soon. She's in some serious shit, and... she's injured. This is top priority, boys."

Lancaster was staring at him and voiced what they all were thinking. "If she's already out of California, how are we going to have jurisdiction to go after her? If... we can even find her?"

Jack and Hall shared another glance, and twin smiles appeared upon their lips. They turned back to the team, the smiles turning into smirks.

Hall spoke with a mischievous tone, "Well, boys, that's where it gets a little difficult..."

Major Lennox and Epps were relaxing in the human/Autobot rec room with Ironhide and the Elder Twins.

The rec room was located inside a hangar directly next to the human barracks. On one side of the hangar were a couple of plush couches, a few small coffee tables, a human sized plasma flat screen television hanging on the wall, a couple of cabinets with a few hundred movies, and a number of gaming consoles. There was also a small kitchen on one side, a pool table, ping-pong, and a foosball table.

On the other side of the hangar was the Autobots' rec area. It consisted of one Autobot-sized coach pushed against a side wall, and on the wall next to it, a very large television, perfectly sized for Autobot viewing. The floor was concrete, blessedly cool in the Arizona heat. The hangar wasn't air-conditioned, which often caused some grumbling amongst the human soldiers and the Elder Twins.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were currently watching Top Gear, while Ironhide was brooding, leaning slightly against the open hangar door, quietly sipping an energon cube. A slight warm wind whistled through the open hangar door and past him, cooling the humans within the hangar only slightly.

Will and Epps were lounging on the human sized couch, their wearied combat boot-clad feet resting on a small coffee table. Epps had pulled a hat over his face, and Will could hear his slight snores. He resisted the urge to laugh, and merely shook his head instead, a slight smile dancing upon his lips. His best friend was quite the character, and Lennox was grateful for him. Epps had saved his ass more often than not, and Will refused to be deployed anywhere without the man he considered his "second-in-command".

Will stole a glance at Ironhide, noting how his sharp sapphire optics seemed to be in another place. Ironhide's optics brimmed with anger, resentment, and... disappointment?

He's still pissed about Optimus letting the human woman and Barricade go. Gotta be that, Will mused, as he slowly placed his hands behind his head, greatly enjoying his relaxation time. He needed this, he needed to be able to stretch out, to relax his muscles, to be able to just think; with no explosions, no gunfire, just him and one comfortable couch. All right, and his best buddy snoring up a storm next to him. His smile grew into a grin.

Will thought back to Sam and Mikaela, who had disappeared with Bee off to their temporary quarters on the other side of the base. They had asked him what had happened on the plane, and Sam had looked upset when Will had refused to tell them. He grimaced. He had wanted to share what they had learned on the plane with Sam, but he couldn't. It was too volatile, and if it got to the other human members of NEST... well, it wouldn't have been a good thing. There had been a reason why the rest of the human members had flown back to the base on Fireflight, while Will and Epps flew back with Silverbolt. There they had learned what Optimus and Prowl had suspected.

They had a mole in NEST. Someone, one of his human soldiers, had been leaking information, classified information, about their movements and the human woman. It unnerved and irritated Will. He felt one of his eyebrows twitch at the thought, of the potential ramifications and consequences.

All right, so irritation might have been an understatement. Will was pissed, and it was hard for him to keep his anger under wraps, to show no emotion, to pretend like everything was okay. He wanted to find the bastard who had betrayed them. If he was true to his feelings, he honestly wanted to tear the fucker who had given that fuckhole Galloway information limb from limb.

Will scowled, his hands clenching into fists. He breathed slowly, trying to calm himself, thinking back on what had happened earlier that day.

After the flight, Will and Epps had a meeting with Optimus. It was decided that Maggie and Glen, who had been doing contract work with the Canadian government for the past two and a half years, had to be recalled from their current work and were now tasked to find out who had broken the information to the Sergeant in Tranquility, and to that damnable Galloway.

Still, that would take time. Will trusted Maggie and Glen, some of the best hackers the world had ever seen, but he wondered if they could find the information in time. They wouldn't be at the secondary base for at least another twelve to sixteen hours. Will was increasingly nervous that something would happen before that time. He couldn't leave his soldiers here if they were needed, and yet he didn't trust them. He hated that thought, loathed that he was already distrustful of his men. Men that he had put his life on the line for. Men that he would have died for.

He didn't trust Prowl either, but Optimus had vouched for him and what Prowl had claimed, and that was enough for Will. Paranoia was beginning to seep through him, and he wondered if each time he stared at his soldiers that he would be seeing the face of a traitor looking back at him. It bothered him and concerned him for more reasons than one. You had to trust your fellow soldier, to the point of where they held your life in their hands; when their decisions decided whether your mortal coil remained intact or was severed. For a traitor to be in their midst disturbed him and caused a flurry of anxiety and worry to flow through him. His frustration at the situation was at boiling point.

Will shifted on the couch, causing Epps to snort in his sleep. Will couldn't help the laugh that broke through his melancholy mood.

Ironhide during this time was contemplating his behavior at the human's house. He had been so sure, so convinced, that he had done right, but now nagging doubts were beginning to eat at him. He questioned every decision he had made. He replayed all of the vids his memory core had recorded.

Only one thing haunted him.

The woman, and the look on her face when she had confronted him. The look in her eyes, as he replayed the vid, caused him to shudder. He had let his anger overcome him. He had deliberately missed her when he had shot his cannon, but he was irritated at himself that he had let himself become so unglued. He had never before shot at a human, and he was finding the emotions accompanied with such an action to be disturbing. What the slag had he been thinking?

He did not trust her, nor Barricade. Yet, he found himself respecting the woman for what she had done, placing herself directly in harm's way to protest his actions. He no longer believed she was a holoform. No, she was every bit of human as she had claimed, down to the blood flowing through her veins, her stark white scars, her fragile heart beating, and the distinct intelligence behind her golden hazel eyes.

Those eyes of hers... they haunted him. He remembered distinctly how the golden brown, with soft red and green specks, typical of dark hazel eyes, had blended so perfectly together as she had glared at him, had screamed at him, had threatened him.

Like molten gold, darker than that, but still haunting in its power.

Her eyes, and the pain he was just beginning to see in those eyes, as he watched every memory vid of the night before, would haunt him for many human years to come.

His one-time students, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, had agreed with him; but he wondered if they had only done so because he had been their Teacher. That was another thing that gnawed at him. His former students should know better. They were still trying to please him, he knew.

He shook his head slightly and took another sip of the sweet energon. Life. His life. All represented within that sweet cube. Without it, none of them would survive. He forced himself not to think of the fact that soon they would run out of rations. Ratchet had been able to come up with a reasonable substitute, but soon they would not be able to sustain their numbers on even the substitute without destroying the earth. Yet another worrying thing. They had to find energon, and soon, or they would perish.

Ironhide struggled not to growl. He thought again to the human woman. He grudgingly admired her, and he knew why Barricade was her Guardian. His mouthplate twisted into a smirk as he stared down to his cube. Oh yes, the two of them, the Decepticon deserter and the human cop on the run, had quite a bit in common. He cycled his vents softly.

So many doubts.

Now he was left with lingering questions. He quietly sipped his energon cube, slowly, tentatively, as was his habit. No need to drain it in one gulp like those idiots, Skids and Mudflap. So many questions to add to his doubts. Were his actions necessary? Had he been right being so ruthless? Or were his actions no different than Bumblebee's? He knew he was lucky not to be in the brig, but he also knew that was only temporary. One thing he always knew about Prowl – he meant what he said, and Ironhide would face the brig at some point in the future.

He knew as he stared down at the pink-purple color of the energon cube in his hands that he would gladly accept that punishment. He knew now that he had been wrong, and he would gladly welcome his necessary time in the brig. Still, he didn't particularly like the human or her Guardian, and he would naturally remain suspicious of both until they proved otherwise.

Suddenly, an emergency message beeped at him, nearly causing him to spill the precious energon. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both startled as the message flashed upon their internal visual screens. Will heard only sharp yells coming from the communications hangar, as Epps was shaken awake from how loud the yells were.

"What in the hell?" Epps yelled as he shot up, his hat falling to the concrete floor. Will shrugged, and then stared at Ironhide, who had a far off look in his optics, typical of a 'Bot checking their internal coms.

Ironhide cycled his vents in a mixture of disappointment and slight surprise. He quickly drained the rest of the energon cube, and stared at Will, who was looking at him with a curious look.

"Optimus is calling an emergency. Apparently Barricade's energy signature has been visible the past few hours, and the fraggin' Seekers are moving towards him and the human." Ironhide explained, quietly.

Will sighed, placing his elbows on his knees as he placed his head in his hands, while Epps groaned.

Will shook his head, "Let me guess, we're to find them before the Seekers do?"

Ironhide nodded, his sapphire blue optics sparkling, and then he spoke again, "Also, Prowl's glitched out. Ratchet is furious with Optimus. We're not to leave until Prowl has woken, per orders from Ratchet. He's even pulled rank on Prime."

Epps smiled at that. "Really? Fantastic! Wake me up when Prowl does." Epps settled back down on the coach, and within seconds was snoring again. Will rolled his eyes, while the Elder Twins stared curiously at the Master Sergeant.

Ironhide stiffened, as the yelling sounds from the communications hangar grew louder as they shifted from there to the medbay. Ratchet was apparently giving Optimus quite a lecture. Ironhide cycled his vents, and brought his hand to his optics, shaking his head.

"Will, get the men ready. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, go to the communications hangar. I apparently am in need in the medbay before a certain medic and a certain Prime murder each other." Ironhide grumbled, and Will nodded.

He hid a smile at the last part of Ironhide's statement. What he would give to see Ratchet and Optimus fight. It was a morbid thought, but Will couldn't help it.

Barricade growled in frustration when Prowl sent him the spark-bond message.

He knew his brother was telling the truth. But he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe that the Cons were coming after him and Maeve. And yet he knew. He felt the fear through Prowl, felt it to the very depths of his spark. He initiated another analysis of his energy signature, just to be sure.

His spark twisted when it revealed Prowl was telling the truth. The program and associated parts controlling his energy signature were heavily damaged. His previous analysis had been false.

The other 'Cons were coming for him... and for Maeve. He had to hide her, had to get her out of danger. The human LEOs following him were suddenly unimportant. He needed to be rid of them, now.

Barricade's frame shook dangerously as he suddenly decelerated, sending out emergency code to the self-repair nanobots he relied on to keep him functioning. It would hurt, especially while he was pushing himself so much, but it needed to be done. He had to be ready.

Starscream was his biggest worry. And the Seekers, Starscream's closest mechs, the mechs that Starscream trusted the most, and used frequently in combat.

Barricade couldn't help his own fear that coursed through him. While Prowl hadn't said that the Seekers were coming, he knew. The spark-bond warning, followed by Prowl glitching out. Typical of his brother.

Barricade felt a slight pang of guilt in his spark, as he remembered exactly how that glitch had come about and how it had been his fault. When he had deserted Prowl, when Barricade had switched to the Decepticons; he had hurt Prowl so bad that Prowl had developed his well-known glitch, in which emotions caused him to go into stasis lock for some time. Barricade had not known of the glitch for a long while, even though he had felt it slightly with the dampened spark-bond, until he had been told of it by a fellow Decepticon, who had witnessed it during battle.

Before he had defected, before he had found Maeve, he hadn't cared that he had caused his brother a glitch. It wasn't important, and he had felt his brother was a nasty organic loving slagger, merely another Cybertronian who he cared nothing for. Now his guilt for his brother's glitch ate at him. Barricade's spark twisted as the former hate he had had for his brother conflicted with the spark-bond love they had just found again, something they hadn't had for thousands of years. Barricade struggled not to cry out.

His brother's glitch irritated him. Yet another thing that was his fault, yet another thing he blamed himself for, yet another thing he hated himself for, now that he was changing.

Pushing those thoughts away, he focused on the situation at hand. With his injuries, he knew he could not take all of the Seekers on at once. He could only hope that the nanobots would help mask his energy signature again; would help give him a chance to fight the Seekers, if he had to. He wondered though, if they had enough time. To get that time... part of what he had to do was to stop the humans following them.

Key battle routines suddenly activated. He knew what he had to do.

Maeve stared at him in surprise as he decelerated. She hadn't heard the spark-twin bond message from Prowl, as Barricade had finally had the sense to disconnect the spark-bond and his internal comlink from his speakers, but the deep growl had certainly caught her attention. She also felt... fear. Real undeniable fear. It didn't feel like hers, though. It reminded her of the previous night, what she had felt at her home. Like she could feel Barricade's emotions.

A cruel determination and cold manner towards the other LEOs following them coursed through her. Those were definitely not her feelings. She shifted uncomfortably.

That came out of nowhere.

"Uh... anything I need to know?" Maeve questioned, quietly, her tone reflecting her uneasiness. She wondered if Barricade would answer her truly or try to lie.

"Just one more damn thing that had to go wrong today, human." Barricade snarled.

Or just not answer at all...

Maeve flinched at the venom in his words, but rolled her eyes at the dashboard, crossing her arms.

Well, that didn't take him too long to revert to calling me "human" again. I wonder if there's a robot version of Xanax or something like it, maybe then he wouldn't be so moody all the time. Maeve almost smiled at the thought, but the gravity of the situation stopped her.

She wanted the truth, and she was going to find it.

"Barricade, stop the bullshit routine and tell it to me straight. What is going – what the fuck are you doing?" Maeve demanded shrilly, as Barricade sideswiped two patrol cars, sending them careening into a ditch along the roadway. Maeve stared in surprise, her mouth open in terror, as she watched the cruisers crash into ditches, sending up red spouts of dust as their human occupants died instantly.

Maeve blanched, her face turning white in horror.

"Be QUIET, human!" Barricade roared, and Maeve felt her own fear this time, swelling up from the depths of her soul. She shrank into the seat, and promptly shut her mouth. She hated admitting the fear, but she was honestly terrified. Why was Barricade attacking the cops? Why was he doing this? She was worried, her hands shaking. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her skin prickling. She could almost feel the tension crackling in the air like a lightning bolt in a summer thunderstorm.

What she didn't expect was Barricade slamming to a stop, his brakes screaming, puffs of smoke flying from his tires. She flew into the steering wheel, slamming hard into it, and then flying back into the seat from the sudden stop. She put a hand to her head and groaned from the sharp pains echoing through her head and chest.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Barricade?" She yelled furiously, and suddenly she was expelled from the patrol cruiser.

She was propelled onto the asphalt, crying out in pain from the road scraping her skin, and then she rolled several times into the red dirt along the highway. She ended up at the bottom of a two-foot-deep ditch covered in sagebrush, prickly small cactus and red dirt. She groaned as she struggled to get up, falling several times into the dirt, breathing in dust. She could have admitted defeat, and just laid there, but her mind refused. And so, she tried, over and over, to get back up.

"For once, I'd really like to not get hurt all the damn time!" She grumbled to herself, angrily, wiping fresh blood and dirt from newly opened scratches on her arms and shoulders. I just had to wear a tank top...

The next thing she heard was Barricade transforming. She heard his frame creaking, the metal parts of his body screeching as they slid into place as he stood up on the asphalt road.

Wincing, she pulled herself up, finally not falling as she crouched in the ditch. She watched the Navajo police cruisers screech to a stop in front of Barricade. She saw the frightened looks on the officers' faces. She saw how they gripped their steering wheels, she saw how one frantically screamed into his radio.

"This ends now, humans! You will not follow us any longer!" Barricade roared. She could hear the anger in his deep voice. Maeve looked up to his quadruple optics and shivered. They were like Starscream's, only without the insanity she had seen in that mech's optics. Barricade's optics were cold, callous and ruthless. Determined. The scarlet color shimmered in cruelty and deplorable violence.

She knew then what he was going to do.

"STOP, Barricade! Don't do this!" She screamed at him, gripping the dirt in front of her.

It was too late. Barricade had let loose several shots, each one precise, each one slamming perfectly into each cruiser. She ducked into the ditch as multiple explosions roiled over her. The other police cruisers were now smoldering wrecks on the highway.

Ash fell around her and the smell of burning metal and flesh invaded her nostrils.

Maeve let loose a sob, her heart wrenching. The officers never had a chance. She didn't even know them, but it didn't matter. She had lost several brothers and sisters in uniform over the years. First of which had been the man who had taught her everything. Being a police officer was being a part of a brotherhood, a sisterhood, a family. It didn't matter if you knew them or not, they still represented the uniform, the family.

Seeing fellow officers lose their lives in front of you, even if you didn't know them... well, Maeve couldn't stop the emotions flooding through her. The emotions would pass, she knew. She had to stay strong. She couldn't let their deaths affect her. The raw emotion would pass, in time.

However, watching Barricade kill the officers in front of her brought back those memories of losing her friends, her family in uniform. It was agonizing. It was like reliving every memory of losing a friend, a comrade, a fellow officer.

Her eyes became like steel, her body stiffening, as she glared up at Barricade.

Unfettered fury flowed through her. Barricade didn't need to kill them. And yet he had. He didn't even care. She let loose a furious scream and pounded her fists into the dirt, not even caring as scratches and cuts were dug deep in her hands, before she stared up at him again with cold eyes. Her trust for him was dwindling. She had not expected him to do this, and it pained her and angered her. This wasn't him.

Or was it? She found herself wondering if this was his true self, and if he had been lying to her all along. He was not noble, he was not a grand fighter, he was nothing like she had thought. He was a coward.

"Why... why did you do that?" Her voice was cold, even as it shook with tension, as she glared at Barricade. He looked down at her, his optics reflecting his cruelty, and then transformed back to the Saleen cruiser. He popped a door open.

"Get in." His voice was just as cold as hers.

"No, I won't. You didn't need to do that. Why did you kill them?" She asked, as she shakily stood up, dusting away the dirt on her jeans.

"Get in now." Barricade snarled, and Maeve shook her head fiercely. Her hazel eyes reflected her fury, her pale skin flushed, as she stared at the Saleen with anger.

She set her jaw, as she continued to glare, shaking her head again vehemently. "NO! Not until you explain to me why!"

Barricade let loose a deep growl, and his frame shuddered in fury. "Stupid human, we don't have time for this! Making this more difficult than you must." His voice dropped to a conflicted whisper, "Primus, Maeve."

He made his decision. It had to be done. He couldn't wait, and he didn't want to explain why he had done what he did to her now. They just didn't have time. He set a subroutine, one which he hardly used, and entered in the code. He nearly groaned in pain from the excessive energon use, coupled with the pain of his self-repair routines. He reminded himself it was necessary and gritted through the pain.

Maeve gasped as a human male burst from the Saleen cruiser.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed as the male was at her side in seconds. She had just enough time before he grabbed her to notice that he was about 6 feet tall, had short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes that sparkled in the sun, tan muscular skin, and was wearing a black police uniform. Then he had grabbed her roughly, picking her up and carrying her to the open Saleen cruiser passenger door.

"Let me go! What the hell are you?" She screamed as she tried to get out of his iron grip desperately. Her panicked movements only created more bruises.

He set her down on the passenger seat but didn't let her go. His brown eyes stared into hers, searching hers, for something she didn't know. Her own eyes were wild as she hit and clawed at him, and then his hands grabbed her arms stiffly. She couldn't help but notice that his hands were warm, and his arms were muscular. Not wrestler or boxer type of muscular, but also not slight. Somewhere in between. He shoved his face an inch from hers, and she stared into the brown eyes.

They seemed familiar with their intensity. Those brown eyes showed caring beyond the anger, beyond determination, beyond the cruelty.

Then, the unfamiliar man spoke, his voice deep, "Femme, calm yourself."

Maeve froze up at the voice. She stared in horror at brown eyes staring so deeply into hers. It was... Barricade's voice.

"Um..." She couldn't think of anything to say, her mind was blank.

The man dropped her arms, and then slammed the Saleen door. The cruiser rocked violently from the angry slam as Maeve curled into herself, becoming as small as possible. She watched him, almost in terror, as he walked around the Saleen with a scowl on his face, and got back in. She watched in silence as he began driving, gripping her broken wrist harshly. The pain kept her grounded, had her gritting her teeth, had her stuck in reality.

He was speeding as he crossed the New Mexico border, and then they passed the Colorado border not much longer after that.

She stared at the male human sitting in Barricade's driver's seat; fear and a little worry that she was going insane, coursing through her.

Maeve was in shock. "What the hell are you?"

The brown eyes gazed at her, a slight smile dancing on those pink lips. "This is my holoform. It allowed me to pass through several cities after I had left departments. It was how I had come to Tranquility the first time, and how I was able to transfer so often after I left there. Without a human form, I was unable to get the forms and necessary documents needed to pass on to the next department. And so, I came up with this. It takes quite a bit of energon usage, and you better be glad for this. It fragging hurts right now, but I couldn't just leave you by the side of the road."

Maeve's voice was tiny. "Barricade... is that really you?"

The holoform laughed. It was a deep rich laugh. It sounded almost exactly like Barricade's laugh. Maeve twitched. This was unreal. This had to be a dream. Barricade throwing her out of the car had to have knocked her unconscious. She had to be dreaming all of this.

"Yes, I am Barricade. And now, I'm going to drop this little charade, as it's used up too much of my energon."

The holoform disappeared into thin air, and Maeve's jaw dropped.

"Oh my god, I'm in hell!" She squeaked in terror, her eyes wide, her face pale.

The last thing she wanted now was to be with Barricade. He had killed several officers, ruthlessly; had become some unbelievable holoform, and then said holoform disappeared. Yup, she was going crazy, she had to be. She began to kick and claw at Barricade's insides. She wanted out, it was all too much. A small part of her laughed, she was okay with giant alien robots, but a holoform was too much? But Maeve didn't care. She clawed, kicked, punched and screamed her lungs out.

Barricade cycled his vents. He hadn't wanted to use it, but it was time. Slowly, he let loose a sleeping agent through his vents, allowing it to disperse into his interior. Within five minutes, Maeve was unconscious, slumped in the passenger seat.

"I apologize, Maeve." Barricade whispered, with a tint of sorrow.

Later he wondered if he was apologizing for not only making her pass out with the sleeping agent, but also for his killings of the officers who had followed them and the anger he had displayed towards her. Yet another of his screw-ups.

Am I trying to drive her away? What is wrong with me?

Why was he always hurting her? Doubts began to swirl through him. Perhaps... perhaps he wasn't what she needed. He could barely keep her safe. He was her Guardian, but he was not the best for her. Barricade shoved the thought away. He couldn't abandon her.

And yet, the thought remained. He wasn't good enough for her. He couldn't control his anger, and he still acted like the Decepticon he knew he was. He didn't even know if he could save her from the Seekers that were coming for them both. He wasn't good enough. He was a Decepticon. His failures would kill her, eventually.

The thought terrified him. He didn't want to give her up, abandon her, but Barricade reluctantly thought that he might have to, just to keep her safe.

His thoughts, his anxieties, and his self-doubts tormented him as he drove further into Colorado.

"Why the slag didn't you tell Prowl earlier, Optimus?" Ratchet demanded, as they both moved the knocked out mech to the medbay, and onto the silver metal berth. Optimus dropped his hands to his sides after they had gently placed the immobile mech on the berth. Prowl lay there, his optics shuttered, in forced stasis.

Optimus glared at Ratchet, his blue optics sparkling with cool intensity. He hissed, "I didn't think he'd react like this!"

"You know his glitch! Especially when it concerns his slaggin' spark twin who he just reconnected with after eons of being apart! You didn't think, and that's the fragging problem!" Ratchet roared in anger, slamming his fists down on the berth. The strength of this gesture left two distinct imprints in the metal. Ratchet's optics were tinged with scarlet and were quickly turning to violet with his deep rage.

"Do not lecture me, Ratchet! And do not presume to tell me that I didn't think!" Optimus yelled back, his mouthplate twisted into a dark snarl.

Ratchet picked up and held a silver-colored wrench menacingly in his fist and contemplated throwing it at his Prime's head.

He responded angrily while shaking the wrench threateningly, "I'll lecture you all I want, youngling. You know better than this, Prime. Now, when Barricade needs his brother most, Prowl is laying on a berth in my medbay because of your idiocy, and we'll have to give up precious time searching for that Con and the woman he's protecting, while I try to wake up Prowl from his stasis that you inflicted! For the love of Primus, what the frag is wrong with you?"

Their argument was shaking the very walls of the medbay. Human soldiers walking by on the hot concrete outside gave each other wearied looks as they heard the argument within and walked faster and further away from the medbay than usual. They refused to get involved when Ratchet and Optimus were having one hell of a wicked fight.

It was a standoff in the medbay, with both Ratchet and Optimus glaring daggers at each other. Ratchet was poised to throw the wrench, while Optimus' self-defense routines whined in anticipation.

The heavy metal doors slammed open, shaking the hangar, causing long collected dust to fall from the ceiling rafters. Ratchet and Optimus spun around, their defense routines activating, their weapons aimed at the large black mech in front of them.

Ironhide growled, his sapphire optics narrowed in anger, as both of his hands gripped the sliding doors tightly. His deep voice growled, "What in Primus' name is going on in here?"